


The Winter King

by MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne)



Series: 2018 Stony Fairy Tale Bingo [4]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Cold Weather, M/M, Tale of the Frost King, almost freezing to death, with elements from Bear and the Nightingale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-01 07:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13993218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/MarvelousMenagerie
Summary: Tony has more than one reason to be out wandering late at night in the middle of winter.“What brings such a stubborn creature as you out into the woods tonight?”Tony grins wider, now that his face can move again. “My stepfather has chosen me as an offering to the Winter King.” Or to die, really, because Obadiah did not believe in the old gods.Tony believed. He had seen them.UPDATE: Now includes ART!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Stony Fairy Tale Bingo, my free square. I chose the Russian fairy tale of King Frost, Morozko.  
> I also took elements from The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Ardin. I wouldn't consider them spoilers, but need to give credit. I also highly recommend the book!!
> 
> Many thanks to Kaci for beta-ing this <3

 

Tony shivers. He takes another step, the fresh snow crunching underneath his boot. The wind whistles through the trees, the only sound he hears outside of his own pants for breath. Every other living creature knows better than to be out right now.

The full moon lights up the freshly powdered snow. If Tony turned back, he could easily follow his tracks back home where there would be fire, shelter, food - except he had already calculated that he’d passed the point where he could turn back and make it home without freezing to death. Turning back now would mean nothing, other than being closer to home before his body gave up. Besides, what would going home even mean?

‘Home’ had pushed him out into the woods tonight. There would be no warm reception if he  returned. 

Tony trudges forward another step, then another, despite the protest of his body. He wants to rest, to sleep, but that would mean death. Tony is not ready to choose that, not yet. Someone will check how far he made it, he thinks, and he wants his body found as far from home as possible. Pride, stubbornness - whichever flaw it is, Tony will carry it until the end.

A gust of wind has Tony stumbling into a tree and he leans against it, pausing. It’s only a pause, he tells himself. He’s not stopping, not resting, just… pausing.

He knees give out, and Tony sinks to the ground.

He’s only pausing.

He shivers. 

He’s only pausing. 

His body won’t listen when he tells it to stand up. He can’t feel his feet. The cold feels stuck in his bones. Maybe he’s frozen and he doesn’t know it yet. A bent, kneeling icicle, only to thaw when spring comes so as to be buried in the ground.

There’s laughter on the wind; he’s hallucinating. Couldn’t his brain have picked something better? He’d love to see his mother again…

It’s not his mother. A man stands before him, clothed in simple dark blue apparel more suited to summer than the middle of a cold, winter night. His skin is white, almost glowing in the light of the moon, and his pale blond hair shines.

“Are you quite warm?”

Tony laughs, his whole body shaking with it. “Yes, yes I am warm,” he coughs out. His laughter has turned into shivering, but he grins at the man. 

The man grins back, crouching down. He breathes an icy breath into Tony’s face. “And now? Are you warm?”

Tony keeps his smile. “Y-yes,” he stutters.

The man reaches out and touches Tony’s cheek, the bit that Tony’s scarf has left uncovered. His touch is frigid, as cold as ice. “And still, you are warm?”

Tony meets those bright blue eyes, feeling the cold down his bones. “Y-yes. I am w-warm,” he forces out through chattering teeth. He won’t give in, especially not to a product of his own imagination. 

The man tilts his head, and his bright blue eyes sear through Tony. He still touches Tony’s cheek, though now it almost feels like warmth is pouring into Tony through the contact. Is this what dying feels like? 

“What brings such a stubborn creature as you out into the woods tonight?” the man asks. 

Tony grins wider, now that his face can move again. “My stepfather has chosen me as an offering to the Winter King.” Or to die, really, because Obadiah did not believe in the old gods. 

Tony believed. He had seen them - not the Winter King himself, but Tony had seen the  _ domovoi  _ in the fireplace, helping Anna Jarvis with dinner and nourishing itself on the scraps she left for it. Edwin Jarvis had left food offerings for the  _ vazila _ , who guarded the stables and calmed the horses. Maria had believed enough to not discourage Anna or Jarvis from teaching Tony about them and Howard had been at best apathetic.

Obadiah did not believe, but it was convenient. Sending Tony away to marry the Winter King is an acceptable practice, where simply sending Tony out to die in the woods would’ve caused an outrage in the village. Still, Tony is the first in living memory to be sent out in offering. 

The man grins, his teeth gleaming. “Usually they send me maidens,” he says.

“That doesn’t apply to me for multiple reasons,” Tony shoots off before he thinks about it. 

The man laughs and the wind whistles in high-pitched harmony. Little puffs of snow float into the air, and Tony stares enchanted for several moments before he realizes that he might not actually be hallucinating or currently dying. He’s warm when he should be cold, but he could not have imagined such a youthful or handsome Winter King. 

The Winter King smiles. “Then for your bravery, return with a prince’s treasure instead of a bride’s.”

Tony’s heart beats fast. Returning triumphant would be wonderful, and whatever the Winter King gives him will surely set Tony up on his own even after handing some of it over to Obadiah. Still, there had been a reason Tony had marched out into the woods this night when ordered by Obadiah, and it was not simply because Tony believed the Winter King exists. 

“Wait,” Tony forces out. “I would… I have a question.”

“Oh?” The Winter King drawls, his face gone cold, and a shiver races down Tony’s spine. “What would you ask of me?”

Tony wells up his courage. “The tales of you that I’ve heard as a child, they said that you escort the dead to the spiritual realm.” The Winter King doesn’t reply, and so Tony pushes on. “I would ask… do you remember Anna and Edwin Jarvis?”

A freezing blast of air chills Tony to his bones. The wind whistles through the trees, branches bending and cracking under the strain. 

“I will not raise them for you,” the Winter King replies.

“No! No,” Tony shouts above the wind. “But you remember them? They’re at peace?”

The Winter King still does not answer. 

Tony curls over, shivering. “That’s all I want to know, I promise you. I will trade the entire treasure for the answer. I want to know… to make sure. There was, there was one tale, about your brother…”

The wind dies, leaving a fragile quiet in its wake. The Winter King sighs, and Tony feels the warmth of summer return despite the chill of the night. 

“My brother cannot help what he is,” the Winter King explains, “but he has been slumbering for many years now. The dead are safe, including the two that you mentioned. They are at rest.”

Tony goes weak with relief. “Thank you.”

He had been afraid, ever since Obadiah had joined the household. Anna had warned Tony that it was the old gods who protected them against the Winter King’s brother, a terror who would torture the dead and make them walk among the living once more. But even though Obadiah could not see the  _ domovoi  _ or the  _ vazila _ , they had cowered in his presence. Tony had been afraid that when Anna and Edwin had died, they would not stay at rest - that the old gods were not strong enough to protect them. 

The Winter King directs Tony to his feet. “Return to your home,” he orders, “but we will meet again, Anthony Stark. Take this as a sign of my blessing.” Snow swirls above his palm for a moment, and then falls away to reveal a circular pendant.

The pendant looks like a circle of clear ice, except when Tony takes off a glove to touch it, the pendant isn’t cold to the touch as ice should be. In the center, ice crystals are frozen in the shape of a star. 

“How do you know my name?” Tony asks as he turns the pendant over his in hands. Obadiah will not be pleased that Tony both survived and did not return with the mythical treasure but only this pendant of ice.

Tony doesn’t care. For the first time, he feels something like hope.

The Winter King grins. “I know of many things. You should know this: you traded your gift of treasure for a question. If you offer yourself to me again, you will not get the same reply.”

“Does that mean next time you’ll kill me or next time you’ll marry me?” Tony asks, clutching the pendant tightly.

The Winter King laughs, and then with a swirl of the wind he disappears . 


	2. ART

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gorgeous art by sunnyzhp22 [go check our their tumblr!< /a>](https://sunnyzhp22art.tumblr.com)


End file.
